Whiteshute Lane - TrustNews May 1989
Michael Morris - Chairman of the Landscape Committee
Whiteshute Lane is an ancient highway which originally linked the southern outskirts of the city and St Cross with the medieval settlement at Silkstead, five miles to the southwest between the villages of Hursley and Otterbourne. Leading off the bottom of Stanmore Lane it is obstructed within a quarter of a mile by a level-crossing on the main railway line which, for safety reasons, has been kept permanently closed for many years, although rights of way for all vehicles across it still exist. The railway has to be crossed by a footbridge beyond and the Lane rises as a sunken track overhung by trees to scale a tongue of chalk projecting from the northern slope of Compton Down.
When the high ground is reached, the Lane emerges from the tunnel of trees onto open downland from which can be enjoyed one of the finest panoramas of the city obtainable from any viewpoint. The track continues to climb, skirting the new housing area at Badger Farm to pass by Olivers Battery and reach its highest point at Yew Tree Hill (121 metres), from were it descends in a fold in the chalk to Silkstead Farm.
The Lane, which deserves to be better known, ought to be a wonderful amenity to be enjoyed on foot. For it to become what it ought to be, two things need to be done. The City and County Councils must shoulder the responsibilities they have to maintain it; the tree tunnel at its northern end is dreadfully neglected, overgrown with ivy, full of dead wood and littered with rubbish. Secondly, its designation as a BOAT must be changed.
A BOAT is a byeway open to all traffic. As it stands, motorcyclists and the drivers of cross-country vehicles can and do use the Lane for "sport", causing considerable damage and putting pedestrians at _ risk. Although the need to prevent the unrestricted access of motor vehicles to tracks such as Whiteshute Lane might appear obvious, organisations have sprung up such as the Motoring Organisations Land Rights Association, to defend the rights of vehicle owners to be as much of a nuisance as they like to all enjoyers of the countryside.
At the present time the Landscape Sub-Committee is exploring (while in correspondence with the City and County Councils) the possibility of mobilising a volunteer force to begin tidying up the northern end of the Lane, and is looking at the same time at procedures to be adopted in seeking the redesignation by a magistrates court of the Lane as a footpath and bridleway.